This invention relates generally to clutch release bearings, especially for motor vehicles, and more particularly to the assembly incorporating a clutch release bearing in a motor vehicle.
As is already known, an assembly of this kind generally uses an operating element acted upon by a control member, which in practice is a disengaging fork, and an actuator which, under the action of the operating element, is adapted to act on the disengaging mechanism of a clutch.
More particularly, but not exclusively, the invention relates to an assembly of this kind which further comprises a bearing element which is located between the operating element and the actuator, and which has two coaxial rings rotatably mounted relative to each other, and which is generally formed by a ball bearing.
In an assembly of this kind, the actuator is a separate part from the bearing element, in practice usually a tubular component which, forming an extension-piece, has the advantage of permitting both radial and axial offsetting of the zone of action of this bearing elment, thus enabling the latter to be constructed economically as a roller bearing of small diameter and simple construction, without any inherent complications.
For some applications at least, it is desirable that the tubular actuator thus forming the extension-piece should be mounted so as to slide axially on a support guide.
At the same time, in these applications, in order to be acted upon by the control member, the operating element is in turn carried by a support member mounted so as to be axially movable and necessarily distinct from the support guide.
Any defect of parallelism between this support member and the support guide may lead to malfunctions such as, for example, a condition in which the actuator becomes jammed on the support guide.
This invention relates generally to an arrangement for overcoming this disadvantage.